Rev.Martin Luther King, Jr. wanted us to be more Christian

One of my pet peeves is how few people refer to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. as a Reverend. Yes, I know that Doctor is a great title to have, but Reverend is a title that he choose for himself when he became a preacher. I may just be too cynical, but I think that many people call him Doctor in hopes of making us forget what he really stood for. He stood for Christ.

When Martin Luther King, Jr., confronted racism in the white church in the South, he did not call on Southern churches to become more secular. Read his sermons and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and see how he argued. He invoked God’s moral law and the Scripture. He called white Christians to be more true to their own beliefs and to realize what the Bible really teaches. He did not say, “Truth is relative and everyone is free to determine what is right or wrong for them.” If everything is relative, there would have been no incentive for white people in the South to give up their power. Rather, Dr. King invoked the prophet Amos, who said, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24). The greatest champion of justice in our era knew the antidote to racism was not less Christianity, but a deeper and truer Christianity. (Keller, RG, 64–65)